'15 ATH Kevin Dillman (Denton Guyer)

[BillySee58]

6'4" 230 lb qb/tight end prospect from Denton Guyer. Originally from Sweden, Dillman transferred to Guyer from La Mirada, California where he was one of the top qb prospects in the country after his junior year. Was committed to Nebraska but recently parted ways. Was ruled ineligible for Guyer this year so he played a lot of tight end and h-back for Guyer's JV team this year. Reports out of spring camp were that he was beaten out for the job at Guyer by Shawn Robinson (one of the top 2017 qbs in the country). Unsure what position we offered him at, but we have offered. Also unsure which offers from his once illustrious offer list are still good.

Highlights:
(Senior year with Guyer JV)
http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1087501/kevin-dillman
(Junior year)
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XFyS-4wSmfM
(Sophomore year)
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D5tlF6rKOoE

http://247sports.com/Player/Kevin-Dillman-20292
http://espn.go.com/college-sports/football/recruiting/player/_/id/152946/kevin-dillman
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/recruiting/player-Kevin-Dillman-137192
http://texastech.scout.com/a.z?s=188&p=8&c=1&nid=6148380

Edited January 20, 2015 by BillySee58

[Brett Vito]

MGB:

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/01/20404.html/

[BillySee58]

Just received a offer from the university of North Texas, truly blessed? #GMG

— kevin dillman (@kevindillman10)

January 8, 2015

[Brett Vito]

MGB: Updated with quotes from Guyer coach John Walsh

http://meangreenblog.dentonrc.com/2015/01/20404.html/

[Stix]

Sweden?

[UNTLifer]

Sign him and give him a shot at QB.

[BillySee58]

Sign him and give him a shot at QB.

For sure. You're talking about a 6'4" 230 lb QB who was offered by schools like Tennessee, UCLA, Clemson, Florida State, etc. And it's not like he isn't being recruited by those schools because he had some arm injury or something. This kid could easily be a solid CUSA level qb if developed properly.

Also, good news; we've picked up 4 crystal ball predictions on 247 today, by some Nebraska, Big10, and national analysts. Hopefully his recruiting doesn't pick up, but there is still time for that.

[GMG24]

If you give Chumbley a shot, think this would be the case too. Man hope we can land him!

[GMG24]

If you give Chumbley a shot, think this would be the case too. Man hope we can land him!

[BillySee58]

If you give Chumbley a shot, think this would be the case too. Man hope we can land him!

Yeah, and this is not a kid who you're rolling the dice by letting him play qb. He was once one of the top qb recruits in the country, has ideal measurements, has great arm strength, and was a starter on the varsity level for about 2 and a half seasons (part of freshman year and all of sophomore and junior years). All of Chumley's big offers were at tight end, so he's more of a gamble.

Something that I thought may be a good sign for us, the more I look into this situation, is that his Coach said that he sees him being a tight end in college. To me, that may mean that Walsh doesn't expect many schools to give him a chance at qb at this point. That could be a perfect opportunity for a high-end qb prospect to just fall in our lap.

Also, on his scout profile it looks like we may be the only school actively recruiting him. As great as his offer list is, we won't have to compete with all those schools. Still time for other schools to hop in, but in a way it's almost like we're his first and only offer at this point. Which is a great advantage.

[Withers940]

Not that it matters but what is his 40 time?

[BillySee58]

Not that it matters but what is his 40 time?

He doesn't have a verified (laser) time, so nothing official. He doesn't even have a non-verified time, so just judging by his film he'd probably be somewhere between 4.7 and 4.9. He's fast enough where he could be a legitimate D1 tight end, but I think we have to give him a shot at qb if he comes here.

If he played qb he'd somewhere in the same ballpark as Mcnulty, speed wise. Fast enough to extend a play with his legs every once in a while and get decent gains on zone reads if the read is for him to keep. But not a guy who you mold the offense around his running.

We've picked up 2 more crystal ball picks for Dillman on 247. Up to 6 total crystal ball picks.

[H-towngreen]

Dillman is a must take. He is exactly the type of high ceiling prospect tha NT needs to land. Dillmanmwasmat one point a one if the top QB prospects in the country, he ended up being ruled intelligible, played JV, and his stock crashed. You don't see college recruiters hitting up many JV games...haha. Now everyone is looking at his big body as a TE. Bring him in at QB with a shot to start this season. NT is never going to straight win a recruiting battle for this caliber of talent at QB. It's situations like this where NT needs to swing for the fences.

[UNT90]

Kind of concerning that he was beaten out at QB on the JV level, no matter how talented the HS program.

That said, bring him in and let him have a shot at QB. If he doesn't work out, move him to TE or defensive end.

[ntmeangreen11]

FWIW he was rated 98 (5*) after his sophomore season and then downgraded as time went on.

I really hope he ends up committing here.

[NT03]

I think it's between us & Houston

[BillySee58]

Kind of concerning that he was beaten out at QB on the JV level, no matter how talented the HS program.

That said, bring him in and let him have a shot at QB. If he doesn't work out, move him to TE or defensive end.

He wasn't beaten out at qb on the JV level. He was playing tight end before he was ruled ineligible. Plus, you don't use your JV qb snaps on a player who won't be with your program the next year, so he only played qb part of the time last year.

I posted this in the Brett Cox thread. Regardless of his circumstances, if you can get a qb with the talent of Dillman, you have to get him. He has the skills, as evidenced by offers from schools like Auburn and Florida State. It's up to our coaches and himself to make sure he develops. If he does he can absolutely be a successful CUSA level qb. All concerns aside.

Talent wise, he could because he'd come in and be bigger than our current qbs (6'4" and had a picture of him on twitter weighing 235 lbs) and he would have the strongest arm. However, he could really use a redshirt year because of all his circumstances.

I've been doing a lot of research on him lately. He started playing football in 6th grade in Sweden, started playing qb a little in 7th and 8th grade but there wasn't much passing, as it was pretty much take the snap and run. Then in 9th grade at La Mirada he played as a freshman some, got offered by UCLA, played a bunch of positions like kick returner (has a KO return for a TD at the beginning of his Soph highlights), defensive end, safety, and tight end as well as playing some qb. He got even more offers but was expected to have a breakout junior year. He was playing well but tore his Achilles midway through, but still became one of the top 5 or so qb prospects in the entire country. He transferred to Guyer last January, committed to Nebraska in April, but still wasn't fully recovered from the Achilles injury so he couldn't fully participate in spring drills and Shawn Robinson won the job. He already had a scholarship so he was set to play tight end/h-back in addition to spelling Robinson at qb as a senior, but the UIL ruled him ineligible.

Instead of transferring to Liberty Christian and playing he thought practicing with Guyer all year would better prepare him for D1 ball, and said he didn't like the completion level dropoff at Liberty Christian. He recovered from the Achilles and played all year for Guyer's JV, but then had his scholarship pulled as Nebraska got a new coach. His stock had dropped because of all the circumstances, and all those big time schools had their qb commits for the class, so now no one, as of yet, besides us has offered him. And there is belief that any other offers for him at this point would come at tight end.

He really hasn't played all that much qb, especially over here in the states. So he could really benefit from a redshirt year. Good news is, this kid apparently is very committed to football and has the desire to learn that a qb needs. Really hoping we get him.

[UNTLifer]

Thank you Billy. Exactly correct that you would never play him at JV QB and delay the development of someone with a future in your program.

[Green Crazy]

I like they guy and hope we get him, but he doesn't seem to be a great passer. Now, I was watching junior highlights and obviously sitting out at the qb position hurt him development wise at the position, but is also the reason we are now in the picture. Looks like a great running threat at the qb position though and if he can be even a decent passer could be a ginormous pickup for us. He looks like a bigger Jordan Lynch, but not as good of passer. Someone who would be great for a run first offense.

[UNT90]

People on here greatly underestimate the mental aspect of playing QB at the college level.

That will be this kid's biggest adjustment, especially after not playing QB in HS for most of the past 2 years.

[BillySee58]

I like they guy and hope we get him, but he doesn't seem to be a great passer. Now, I was watching junior highlights and obviously sitting out at the qb position hurt him development wise at the position, but is also the reason we are now in the picture. Looks like a great running threat at the qb position though and if he can be even a decent passer could be a ginormous pickup for us. He looks like a bigger Jordan Lynch, but not as good of passer. Someone who would be great for a run first offense.

I don't know what shortcomings you see in him as a passer. Yeah, certainly the lack of development is the reason we have a shot here, but as a passer he ceiling is much higher than Jordan Lynch's. Here's what I see in his highlights.

Positives:

- 6'4"

- big-time arm

- shows the ability to put good touch on the ball

- the west coast offense his school (La Mirada) ran was a great way to showcase his footwork. His footwork shined. He has the feet to be a successful D1 qb.

- does a good job of using his body to project where he wants the football to go. Again, good footwork.

Negatives:

- has a tendency to throw off his back foot.

- he is more than capable of putting heat on the ball, but he lets it float at times.

- his throwing motion is good, not great, and results in him short-arming and under throwing from time to time.

- locks on to one receiver often

If we can land him then we'll have 5 years to play 4 with him. Plenty of time to makeup for the minimal experience, and plenty of time to get coached up with flaws that are very fixable and strengths that are unteachable.

People on here greatly underestimate the mental aspect of playing QB at the college level.

That will be this kid's biggest adjustment, especially after not playing QB in HS for most of the past 2 years.

Of course. But if this was a kid who had been playing football since 4th grade and started every varsity game sophomore through senior year then he would be choosing between his big-time P5 offers. This is a guy you earn your money with, as a qb coach, OC, head coach, and anyone involved in his development.

Here's a quote I found from his California football coach:

"'I've never seen anything like this kid,' Moschetti told Gorney. 'I saw Matt Barkley play as a freshman (at Mater Dei) and there's no comparison. This kid is a freak. He's big, he's fast, he throws deep and mentally he has it all. I didn't want him to stay here and then immigration down the road makes it hard on him to become a legal citizen. I know he's going to get recruited by everybody."'

This was after his freshman year when the Visa that was allowing him to attend La Mirada as a foreign exchange student expired and he had to go back to Sweden temporarily before becoming a full-time US citizen. He said Dillman had it mentally, Dillman had excellent grades (3.4 GPA before transferring to Guyer), and is driven enough to play football that he moved halfway across the world at the age of 14, without his parents, so he could play American football. That leads me to believe he is a coachable kid who has what it takes to make the strides mentally. I don't know the kid, and I don't know for a fact that he'll stay out of trouble in college. But I do like those factors.

He has the talent. He had offers from schools who were coming off of a 5th rated recruiting class (Tennessee), basically half of the PAC12 offered after his freshman year, the national runner-up (Auburn), and the national champ (Florida State) among his numerous offer list. Talent wise, you just can't pass this kid up, as a CUSA school. You're right about the mental aspect, but he wants it. If you can develop him, as coaches, then you'll have a qb who you could've never pulled out of high school under normal circumstances. Or at least a solid CUSA level qb. That's what the goal realistically should be, and it is very realistic if we can get him.

Edited January 12, 2015 by BillySee58

[Cooley]

Why did Nebraska pull their offer? Why is it down to UNT and Houston? SMU needs a QB as bad. Where are the Ponies? Where's all the other interests in this kid today. I would think that if he is special that he would have better suitors. The new coaching staff at Nebraska decided to keep their other commitments with the exception of this one. Nebraska is not exactly playing for the National Championship @ AT&T Stadium tomorrow. I'm not crazy about kids that move around so much. It also appears that we have a legit QB for the next 2 years in the Juco signee. I wish we could focus more effort on finding big time defensive lineman than adding to an already crowded stable of QB's. This coaching staff would have him 4th or 5th behind McNulty, Josh Grier, Chumley, Means and the kid from Commerce on the depth chart (assuming Dajon doesn't return)

I'd take him but this is not my priority

[Harry]

Why did Nebraska pull their offer? Why is it down to UNT and Houston? SMU needs a QB as bad. Where are the Ponies? Where's all the other interests in this kid today. I would think that if he is special that he would have better suitors. The new coaching staff at Nebraska decided to keep their other commitments with the exception of this one. Nebraska is not exactly playing for the National Championship @ AT&T Stadium tomorrow. I'm not crazy about kids that move around so much. It also appears that we have a legit QB for the next 2 years in the Juco signee. I wish we could focus more effort on finding big time defensive lineman than adding to an already crowded stable of QB's. This coaching staff would have him 4th or 5th behind McNulty, Josh Grier, Chumley, Means and the kid from Commerce on the depth chart (assuming Dajon doesn't return)

I'd take him but this is not my priority

Not to mention, we have two greyshirt dline guys from DeSoto who both don't make grades... Wouldn't we want these guys to stay on their books? I have to think they would have addressed the DLine issues at midterm in some way...they did not. Teams are stockpiling DLine and we have one in our entire class this far? Hopefully they have some stuff in the works, maybe even an impact late qualifying juco...

I also think with all the SMU, Tulsa poaching they may be keeping things quiet...

[greenminer]

Why did Nebraska pull their offer? Why is it down to UNT and Houston? SMU needs a QB as bad. Where are the Ponies? Where's all the other interests in this kid today. I would think that if he is special that he would have better suitors. The new coaching staff at Nebraska decided to keep their other commitments with the exception of this one. Nebraska is not exactly playing for the National Championship @ AT&T Stadium tomorrow. I'm not crazy about kids that move around so much. It also appears that we have a legit QB for the next 2 years in the Juco signee. I wish we could focus more effort on finding big time defensive lineman than adding to an already crowded stable of QB's. This coaching staff would have him 4th or 5th behind McNulty, Josh Grier, Chumley, Means and the kid from Commerce on the depth chart (assuming Dajon doesn't return)

I'd take him but this is not my priority

The fans don't trust our QB situation, and our staff does not either.

I don't like it that we have to gamble like this, specifically on any student athletes that bounce around so much, but we are in no position to ignore this potential. The JUCO signee has not proven anything.

I wish we were better off in the trenches, too.

What is the word on Dajon, is he staying?

[BillySee58]

Why did Nebraska pull their offer? Why is it down to UNT and Houston? SMU needs a QB as bad. Where are the Ponies? Where's all the other interests in this kid today. I would think that if he is special that he would have better suitors. The new coaching staff at Nebraska decided to keep their other commitments with the exception of this one. Nebraska is not exactly playing for the National Championship @ AT&T Stadium tomorrow. I'm not crazy about kids that move around so much. It also appears that we have a legit QB for the next 2 years in the Juco signee. I wish we could focus more effort on finding big time defensive lineman than adding to an already crowded stable of QB's. This coaching staff would have him 4th or 5th behind McNulty, Josh Grier, Chumley, Means and the kid from Commerce on the depth chart (assuming Dajon doesn't return)

I'd take him but this is not my priority

SMU does not need a qb. They took Houston's qb commit, hence why Houston needs a qb now and are also heavily evaluating their decision on whether or not to offer Dillman. Also, for you to suggest that Dillman would be behind walkon Sam Wells is just comical.

If you want information on Dillman, I've done extensive research on him and spilled out most of it on posts in this thread above. His offers were based on his potential, and assuming that he would have his senior year to show more of that potential after an Achilles injury cut his junior season in half. He was ruled ineligible, the new Nebraska coach didn't want to take the risk with him having such little experience, and they parted ways in December.

Nebraska may not be in the national championship game, but Auburn and Florida State were last year. Both offered Dillman, as well as numerous other P5 powers. Look at his offer list. He has all the skills you need, and he's a smart kid and coachable kid by all accounts. That offer list is not a fluke. All those big-time schools saw the potential. Nebraska parted ways with him late in the process (last month), when everyone else already had their qb commits. If you have your qb commit you're probably not going to take a chance on a kid like this, coming off a season where he didn't play.

This kid's moving around is a result of him being from Sweden. His parents still live there, so it's a very unique circumstance.

Everyone needs to ditch this d-line obsession. Our d-line situation this class is not something that is just going to be fixed in the last few weeks. It's a result of us getting our butts kicked in head-to-head recruiting all cycle. Our staff is terrible at that. Look at our high school recruits. We have 2 high school commits with more than 1 other FBS offer (Barr and Wegmann). All the other commits only have us and either 1 other FBS offer or none besides us.

Which leads me back to Dillman. No way this staff could ever pull a high school qb even close to the same league as Dillman under normal circumstances. If you think that a qb of this caliber, with all of his eligibility remaining (5 to play 4), should not be our priority at this point than you haven't really been following this staff's recruiting, you can't evaluate film, or both.

There is a ton of risk involved in bringing in this kid. But there is with everyone. I think there's much less risk involved in bringing Dillman in than guys like Dajon (only other offer was Montana and has struggled with maturity), Means (under 50% completion percentage as a senior), Chumley (FBS tight end but probably not an FBS qb) or Mcnulty (limited frame and skills with no other offers). He's apparently a very bright and coachable kid and has a skill set you can't teach, plus you have all the time you need to develop him.

Blind résumé:

6'4" 235 lb high school QB who has held offers from defending national runner up Auburn, #10 Arizona, #15 Arizona State, #17 Clemson, defending national champ Florida State, Nebraska, #5 ranked recruiting class last year Tennessee, and #14 UCLA among others. Holds a 3.4 GPA, has no known character issues and "has it all mentally" according to his coach(es). Has not suffered any arm injuries, so he has not lost any ability to throw the ball that earned him those scholarships, and has made a full recovery from an Achilles injury. This player is also relatively knew to American football and has as high a learning curve and potential as it gets.

There's a solid chance this kid wants to commit to North Texas, and we're being picky, when the most productive qb this staff has signed has been Mcnulty.

That's my last super-long post on Dillman. I've gone on ad nauseum about him. I'm not trying to convince anyone that he is a sure thing or will be our best qb since whoever, but if anyone needs convincing on why you absolutely need to get this kid and take this risk everytime than read any of these posts I've had on him.